Phonograph record envelope with foam strip

ABSTRACT

An improved gramophone record sleeve or other container for a flat article uses the minimum of expensive material of the cardboard variety, with plastics sheet materials, and consists of a cover formed of two relatively hingeable portions, preferably of cardboard, at least one of the cover portions having secured to its inner face a portion of polymeric material (which may constitute a transparent plastics sleeve) for holding the record or other flat article within the cover; preferably, an edge of the sleeve which is left open for inserting and withdrawing the record is lined with one or more strips of resilient foam plastics material.

United States Patent Stanton 1 Sept. 5, 1972 [54] PHONOGRAPH RECORDENVELOPE WITH FOAM STRIP [73] Assignee: Plastic Innovations Limited,

don, England [22] Filed: Oct. 15, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 80,922

Lon-

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 23, 1969 Great Britain ..51,129/69 Oct. 23, 1969 Great Britain ..51 ,949/69 [52] US. Cl. ..206/62P, 206145.34 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 85/30 [58] Field of Search..40/104.18, 106.1 129/20; 211/40; 206/62 R, 62 P, 45.34; 229/68;

Chouinard ..'.206/62 P UX 3,436,744 2/1948 3,317,038 5/1967 Badeetal..206/62P 958,059 5/1910 Wright ..206/62 P FOREIGN PATENTS 0RAPPLICATIONS 822,305 10/1959 Great Britain ..312/10 1,209,881 10/1970Great Britain ..206/62 P Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair AssistantExaminer-Steven E. Lipman Attorney-Mam & Jangarathis 1 71 ABSTRACT Animproved gramophone record sleeve or other container for a flat articleuses the minimum of expensive material of the cardboard variety, withplastics sheet materials, and consists of a cover formed of tworelatively hingeable portions, preferably of cardboard, at least one ofthe cover portions having secured to its inner face a portion ofpolymeric material (which may constitute a transparent plastics sleeve)for holding the record or other flat article within the cover;preferably, an edge of the sleeve which is left open for inserting andwithdrawing the record is lined with one or more strips of resilientfoam plastics material.

12 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures PATENTEB 3i? 5 3.6 88, 898

sum 1 or 4 PATENTED E? 5 I972 SHEET t [If 4 PHONOGRAPH RECORD ENVELOPEWITH FOAM STRIP This invention relates to containers and is concerned inparticular with containers for holding flat articles, which containersinclude a pair of portions of sheet material joined along their edges toform a flat pocket, parts of the edges being unjoined to provide a slotthrough which the article can be inserted into and withdrawn from thecontainer. The invention therefore concerns containers of envelope-likeform for articles such as photographs, X-ray plates, punch cards andother objects of flat form, in particular, the invention providesimprovements in containers for holding gramophone records. Because ofthe large sales of gramophone records and because the containers of theinvention have particular advantage in relation to them, the inventionwill be described mainly with respect to gramophone record containers,though it will be appreciated that the invention provides advantages inthe packaging of other forms of flat articles and so is not limited tothe packaging of gramophone records.

Though gramophone records have been commercially important for manyyears, up until recently most were sold in relatively simple containerswhich remained essentially the same in construction over severaldecades. Such containers consisted of a sleeve or cover, consisting oftwo square sheets of cardboard or paper joined along three sides andhaving one open side for insertion and withdrawal of the record. It wascommon practice to house the record in a paper or other lightweightinner or liner, which usually had central openings to allow the recordlabels to be read without removing the record from the inner. Suchinners have been made of paper, thus resembling the simplest kind ofsleeve or cover, and/or plastics material; many ideas have been putforward for improving inners, in particular so as to facilitateseparation of the edges at the open side and to minimize folding of thecorners, where they project beyond the record, when the inner and itsrecord are returned to the sleeve or cover. The recommended practice isto place the inner in the sleeve so that the open side of one does notcoincide with the open side of the other, as this prevents the recordfrom accidentally falling out and precludes the entry of dust. However,the provision of a separate inner or liner, which amounts to theprovision of a second sleeve, is expensive and troublesome and,moreover, as the inner is normally located within the sleeve, there islittle advantage in using its large areas for explanatory material, norcan its make-up contribute to making the container and contents moreattractive and saleable.

Sleeves or covers need to carry explanatory material, e.g. informationabout the music on the record, and also to make a strong appeal topotential buyers. Also, they need to be as inexpensive as possible,while nevertheless being attractive and durable; it will be realizedthat it is difficult to reconcile all of the main factors which arerequired in a record sleeve. It is common practice for at least thefront surface of the sleeve, which is normally made of high-qualitycardboard, to be provided with a-film or coating of plastics material,to enhance its appearance and increase its resistance to wear. Cardboardof a suitable quality is always in great demand throughout the packagingand related industries and so the manufacturer of record sleeves isfaced with the dilemma of making a high-quality, durable product, usingas his main constructional material one which is difficult to obtain.However, record manufacturers rely to a great extent upon the salesappeal of the sleeve or cover, especially in relation to recordings ofpopular music, which form the major proportion of recording companiesoutput. These conflicting factors apply especially in relation to popmusic on record, where modern publicity methods repeatedly bring newreleases to the attention of a large buying public and, consequently,the demand for particular records is massive, but of short duration. Therecord manufacturer thus requires the sleeve manufacturer to be able tofulfil a series of large but short-lived production runs, so that recordsleeves also need to be capable of rapid production, using the minimumof expensive materials, involving the minimum of wastage of materialsand also the simplest of manufacturing steps.

Plastics sheet materials can greatly assist in achieving economicproduction of record sleeves and inners and they-are generally much morereadily available than cardboard and like paper products, though theyhave the disadvantage of being much more difficult and costly to print.

In recent years especially, it has become customary to market records inalbums instead of in sleeves or covers. The essential difference betweena sleeve and an album is thatthe former is a pocket or envelope and thelatter is booklike, having a component which can be pivoted relative toanother. Albums have utility particularly for sets of records, where twoor more records are sold together, each usually being housed in an inneror liner and all being contained in a box-like album. The use of albumshas developed to include book-like albums which consist of two or moresleeves hinged together about a common side or some alternative form oftwo-part cover containing pockets or recesses for receiving one or morerecords, sometimes with separate pamphlets orother literature. A simpleform of album, for a single record, consists of a square sleeve having asquare cover hingedly connected to one edge, usually the one at the openside of the sleeve; this latter arrangement has the advantage that, whenthe cover is folded over the sleeve, it closes the open side. Such asimple form of album has the added advantage of providing up to twicethe space of a corresponding sleeve for attractive and informativeprinting, but also represents a markedly increased amount of cardboardand a more complex assembly job.

The present invention provides improved forms of containers for flatarticles, which are especially suitable for gramophone records and whichmake improved use of the economic and other factors discussed above. Thecontainers of the invention provide at least some of the advantages ofknown record sleeves and albums, while also providing other advantagesand additionally avoiding or minimizing at least some of thedisadvantages of known containers.

in the following part of this specification, the expressions below havethe following meanings:

sleeve" means a flat container of envelope or pocket form for a flatarticle, comprising front and back components of sheet material joinedat their edges and having an opening along parts of their edges largeenough to accommodate the article;

cover (contrary to the meaning used above) means an outer component of aflat container, comprising two portions of sheet material which arerelatively hingeable about adjacent edges, the two portions notnecessarily being integrally joined together;

sheet material means paper, cardboard, plastics material or other flatconstructional material;

polymeric material means transparent polyvinyl chloride sheets or anyother sh'eet plastics material which is transparent and may be coloredor colorless;

According to this invention, a container for receiving a flat articlecomprises a cover formed from at least two portions of sheet material,having at least one portion of polymeric material disposed adjacent theinner face of at least one of the portions forming the cover, wherebythe article can be located between the portion of polymeric material andthe associated portion of sheet material so as to be visible through thepolymeric material when the cover is opened out.

According to a preferred form of this invention, a container forreceiving a gramophone record comprises a cover formed from at least twosubstantially square portions of sheet material which are arrangedside-by-side and so as to be relatively hingeable about their adjacentsides, having a sleeve or polymeric material secured inside at least oneof the portions of the cover with the opening in the sleeve disposed inthe vicinity of the adjacent sides of the portions of the cover.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, variousembodiments of it are described below in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1. shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of a record albumof the invention, in the openedout state;

FIG. 2 shows the record album of FIG. 1 in sectional view;

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 of a second embodimentof record album to hold two records;

FIG. 4 shows a detail of a third embodiment of record album, which is amodification of that of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of a fourth embodimentof a record album;

FIG. 6 shows a detail of the record album of FIG. 5 in sectional view;

FIG. 7 shows a sectional view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 of a fifthembodiment of record album;

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of a sixth embodimentof a record album;

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of a seventh andpreferred embodiment of a record album;

FIG. 10 shows in perspective view similar to FIG. 1 an eight embodimentof a record album; 1

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view illustrating how the circumferential edgeof a record adjacent the mouth of the sleeve becomes trapped, so thatthe record will not slide out when the mouth of the sleeve is directeddownwardly;

FIG. 12 is a view showing the mouth of the sleeve opened manually andillustrating how strips of foam material located within the mouth tendto hinge about their lines of attachment to the sleeve;

FIG. l3 shows a diagrammatic exploded perspective view of an assembly ofsheets of polymeric material with an electrode;

FIG. 14 shows a detail of the electrode shown in FIG. 13, taken on theline XIV-XIV therein;

FIG. 15 shows a detail of a modification of the electrode shown in FIG.13.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a record album consists of a cover 10 formedof a pair of square portions 110, 1 lb of, for instance, cardboard,joined together by means of a narrow central strip 110, the cover 10being formed from a single rectangular sheet which is folded at foldlines 12a, 12b to define the portions 11a, 11b and the central strip110. The latter is of such width as to accommodate the thickness of theother parts of the record album and the record contained therein, whenthe two main portions 11a, 11b of the cover 10 are folded together asshown in dotted lines at 13 in FIG. 2.

The square portions 11a, 11b and the central strip 1 10 can be used overtheir entire inner and outer sides for carrying explanatory anddecorative material.

The record album of FIGS. 1 and 2 is intended to contain one gramophonerecord. For this purpose, a sleeve 14 is secured by adhesive to theinside face of the portion 11a of the cover 10. This sleeve 14 consistsof a back sheet 150 and a front sheet 15b of transparent polymericmaterial. As shown in FIG. 1, these sheets are substantially square andare the same size or slightly smaller than the cover portion 1 la. Thesheets 15a, 15b are joined together by a weld line 16 around their threeedges away from the center strip 11c, where the sheets 15a, 15b are leftunjoined. The from sheet 15b is smaller in its width dimension than theback sheet 150, so that its edge 17 is further away from the centerstrip than the edge 18 of the back sheet 150. A strip 19 of foamedplastics material, preferably the same material as the sheets 15a, 15b,for instance polyvinyl chloride, is provided in the open side or mouthof the sleeve 14, by being disposed between the edges 17 and 18. Thisstrip 19 is welded by its outermost edge 20 to the subjacent edge 18 ofthe back sheet 15a and its innermost edge 21 lodges within the sleeve14, inside the edge 17 of the front sheet 15b. This strip 19 provided inthis way, serves to close the sleeve 14, to exert a wiping action on oneor other surface of the record as it is inserted into and withdrawn fromthe sleeve and also tends to tilt up the edge 17, so that the open sideof the sleeve can more readily receive the record as it is being putinto the album.

The record is safely housed in this album and cannot fall out of theopen side of the sleeve; the record may be prevented from falling out ifit lodged beneath the strip 19, though it is preferable for the recordto be located entirely in the region between the strip 19 and theopposite edge of the sleeve 14. As the open side of the sleeve 14 islocated by the central strip 11c, it is closed by the cover 10 when theportion 11b of the latter is folded on to the sleeve 14.

As the sleeve 14 is made of polymeric material which is transparent, therecord can be inspected and its exposed label read when still in thesleeve; also, the entire surface of the cover portion 11a to which thesleeve 14 is secured is visible when the record is removed, so that itcan usefully be printed or otherwise decorated so as to contribute tothe attractiveness and appeal of the record album. The two sheets andstrip, 15a, 15b and 19, forming the sleeve 14 can be assembled andwelded together by high frequency welding, in a single operation usingan open square welding electrode, as explained below.

The record album shown in Fig. 3 is generally similar to that shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, but is intended to house two records. For this purpose,it has a second sleeve 22, similar in construction to the sleeve 14,secured to the inner face of the other sheet 11b of its cover 10. Thelatter has a correspondingly wider central strip 11c to accommodate thegreater total thickness of two records housed in the sleeves 14 and 22,when the cover is folded into the closed position shown in dotted linesat 23.

The two record albums shown in Fig. 3 can be made in an alternativeconstruction, shown in Fig. 4. lnstead of providing the sleeves 14 and22 as separate identical units, each with its foam strip 19, the twosleeves are made as a single unit, consisting of a doublesize back sheet24 including an integral central strip 25, having a double-width foamstrip 26 located thereover, with two separated spaced front sheets 27a,27b. This assembly can be welded together in a single operation using anappropriately'shaped welding electrode, which includes a central memberwhich compresses the middle region of the strip 26 as it fuses it to thesheet 24. The resulting album is substantially identical with that ofFig. 3, but has an extra layer of compressed plastics material, derivedfrom the foam strip 26 along its center. If as is preferred the plasticsmaterials are the same, the compressed part of the foam strip 26 becomestransparent in the welding step and thus is a virtuallyindistinguishable reinforcement for the central region where the sleeves14 and 22 are joined together.

An alternative form of two-record album is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Thisis in effect a cover 10 and sleeve 14 as shown in Fig. 1, having asecond sleeve 28 hingedly connected to one of the closed edges of thesleeve 14; as shown in Fig. 5, the sleeve 28 is substantially identicalwith the sleeve 14 and is connected to its upper edge, preferably by thetwo sleeves being made together, so as to be connected by an integralhinge strip 29. For instance, this can be achieved by assembling a pairof double-size sheets, the upper being slightly narrower than the lowerand relatively displaced so that the open sides of the resultant sleevemouths have their upper edges placed like the edge 17 (Fig. 2), with adouble-length foam strip disposed between the sheets at the edges wherethe open sides will be formed. This assembly can then be operated uponin a single welding step using an electrode in the form of a pair ofsquares to produce the double sleeve 14, 28 of Fig. 5. In use, thesleeve 28 can be folded down on to the sleeve 14 and the free part ofthe cover folded on top, in the arrangement shown in Fig. 6, where thefolded cover is shown dotted at 30. This principle can be extended toprovide albums for more than two records. For example, a three-recordalbum can be made by providing a third sleeve on the lower edge of thesleeve 14 of Fig. 5, the strip connecting the thirdsleeve to the firstbeing wide enough to allow it to fold flat on to the back of the secondsleeve 28; the central strip of the cover must also be madecorrespondingly wider. A'four-record album can be made by providing twotwo-record sleeves of the kind shown in Fig. 5 one on either part of acover. Another form of three-record album is one having a two-recordsleeve on one side and a one-record sleeve on the other. Where two ormore records are accommodate in a multiple-record sleeve, it preferablyis arranged so that all the individual sleeves have their open sidesdisposed so as to come to the region of the central strip of the coveron being folded up. Multiple sleeves can also have other arrangements,however; for instance, a cover can have a two-record sleeve which islike that of Fig. l with a second sleeve hinged to the outer edge of thesleeve 14, the open side of the second sleeve preferably being providedat such outer edge, so that the second sleeve becomes closed as it isfolded in over the first sleeve.

Another form of record album is shown in Fig. 7, which is anotherproposal for housing two records. In this, the cover 10 has secured toits left side 11a a double sleeve 31, formed from three superposedsheets 32a, 32b, and 320 so as to provide two sleeves having adjacentopen sides. The middle sheet 32b projects beyond the two other andcarries a foam strip 33a, 33b on either side. Other arrangements arepossible, but this is preferred, as it retains the advantage of enablingan assembly of three sheets and two strips of foam plastics material tobe welded to form the double sleeve 31 in a single welding step. Thedouble sleeve principle shown in Fig. 7 can be extended to providealbums for larger numbers of records; for instance, and eightrecord setcan be accommodated in an album consisting of a two-leaf cover, like thecover 10, carrying on each side a double sleeve like that shown in Fig.5, but with each element itself being a two-record sleeve of the kindshown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 shows another form of record album which differs from the onesdescribed above in that the cover consists of joined sleeves ofpolymeric material. A cover 34 consists of a left sleeve 35a anda rightsleeve 35b. Each consists of a square back sheet 36 welded along threeof its edges to a front sheet 37 which is unjoined along one edge, wherea foam plastics strip 38 is joined to the free edge of the front sheet37, which does not extend to the corresponding edge of the back sheet36. The two latter are joined to the opposite edges of a central strip39, analogous to the central strip 11c, of Fig. 1 for instance, and thisstrip 39 can be integral with the portions of sheet material used toform the back sheets. The cover 34 is thus a one-piece construction oftransparent polymeric material and can house one or two records. Inorder to provide readily printable areas in the album for carryinginformation about the record(s) in it, separate squares 40 of cardboardor other sheet material are inserted into the sleeves 35 a, 35b. Theiredges adjacent the central strip 39 are preferably lodged under the foamstrips 38 so that the squares 40 are retained in the sleeves forming thecover 34. Modifications of this form of album include the provision of asingle sleeve and a single sheet of polymeric material in place of theother sleeves and also the provision of sleeves capable of receivingmore than one record each.

FIG. 9 illustrates another and preferred embodiment of a container ofthe invention; the container show is intended to house one gramophonerecord, but it can readily be made to accommodate two or more records asa set, as already explained.

The container of Fig. 9 consists of a record album, comprising a cover71 of sheet material, in the form of a rectangular sheet divided by twoclosely parallel fold lines 72 about its center-line into squaresforming the front, 73, and the back 74 of the cover 71. All the surfacesof the cover 71 may, if desired, be printed or otherwise provided withinformation or other material. The cover 71 represents the minimumamount of sheet material. e.g. cardboard, required to provide a squarecontainer having a front and a back for a circular flat object, like arecord, approximately the same in diameter as the sides of the square.

A'square sleeve 75 formed of two sheets 76, 77 of transparent polymericsheet material welded together, with a foam strip 78 located within theopen side or mouth 79 of the sleeve is provided to contain and providephysical and chemical protection for a gramophone record. The sleeve 75is identical with the sleeve 14 shown in Fig. l, but is not secured tothe cover 71 by an adhesive applied to its rear surface, but by means ofa strip 80 of stout transparent plastics material having a pressuresensitive adhesive on one face. The strip 80 is folded along its centerand one side, 80a, is secured to the'back 74 of the cover 71, with thefold adjacent the fold lines 72 and the other side, 80b is secured tothe edge region of the sleeve 75. The sleeve can thus be hinged aboutthe fold in the strip 80, so that the album can be laid upon a surface,the cover opened and both sides of a record in the sleeve can beinspected through the transparent material of the front and the back ofthe sleeve and the information on the recorded labels can be readwithout the record itself being touched. The record will not fall out ofthe sleeve even if the album is held up by the cover and the sleeve isallowed to hang freely from the strip 80. In order to remove the record,the mouth of the sleeve has to be opened as already explained.

if the sleeve 75 is replaced by one of the construction shown Figs. -7,a two-record album is produced and larger numbers of records can behoused for display and sale by varying the make-up of the album asdescribed herein.

Referring to Fig. 10, since records (and some other flat articles) arecircular, it is immaterial how they are orientated in the sleeves, whichcan therefore depart form being square at the two corners remote fromthe open side. Fig. illustrates a cover 46 similar to the cover 10 ofFig. 1, but having sleeves 47 on each side which are semi-circular inthe halves remote from the center of the album, as indicated at 48.

Fig. 10 illustrates an album where the sleeves 47 can be manufacturedusing welding electrodes of open D shape. An assembly for making squaresleeves of the kinds shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7 is shown in Fig. 13. Amodification of the assembly of Fig. 13, for making sleeves of the kindsshown in Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 8 is shown in Fig. 14.

The feature of the present invention constituted by the provision ofresilient strips within the opposed inner faces of the marginal part ofthe mouth of a sleeve, which are affixed to or formed integral withthese faces at their edges adjacent to the edges of the mouth of thesleeve and have their opposite and innermost edges unsecured, is ofespecial importance and benefit.

Preferably, these strips are of a thermoplastic foam material, e.g. aplastics foam material such as polyurethane, which are bonded by highfrequency welding to the inner faces of the material of the sleeve,which is preferably of polyvinly chloride or a similar syntheticplastics material.

The arrangement is such that each of these flaps tends to hinge alongthe line upon which it is bonded to the inner face of the sleeve, sothat the major part or each strip tends to swing away from the innerface of the cover to which it is bonded and towards the inner face ofthe opposite side of the sleeve and so leaves between itself and theface of the cover to which it is secured an elongated narrow recess orspace closed at a position along the line of its bonding to the innerface of the sleeve in which the circumferential edge of a containedrecord is trapped should the sleeve'be held so that its mouth isdirected downwardly, so that the record is thus prevented from fallingout from the sleeve and must be removed intentionally by insertingfingers into the sleeve and withdrawing the record manually.

In addition to trapping the record in its sleeve, the two flaps abut oneanother face to face and so act as a dust excluder and also as a meansfor wiping the removing dust from a record during insertion andwithdrawal of a record, which times the flaps are slightly parted as therecord passes therebetween.

Referring to Figs. 11 and 12 of the drawings,the cover comprises asubstantially square sleeve 61 of P.V.C. or other suitable sheetmaterial. As previously described, this sleeve is open along one of itssides to provide a mouth 62 through which a gramophone record may beinserted into and subsequently removed and is closed along each of itsremaining three edges.

The opposed inner faces of the marginal part of the mouth 62 of thesleeve are provided with resilient strips 63 which are affixed to orformed integral with these faces at their edges 63a adjacent to theedges of the mouth of the sleeve and have their opposite and inner mostedges 63b, as best shown in Fig. 12, unsecured to the inner face of thesleeve 61.

These strips 63 are made of a soft, resilient material and preferablyare of a synthetic plastics foam material such as a polyurethane, whichare bonded, e.g. by high frequency welding, to the inner faces of thematerial of the sleeve 1. Each of the strips 63 tends, as best shown inFig. 12, to hinge along a weld line on which it is bonded at 63a to theinner face so that the major part of each strip 63 behind this weld line63a tends to swing away from the inner face of the cover and leavebetween itself and the cover an elongated recess or space 630 which isclosed at a position along its edge 63a where it is bonded to the coverand in which the circumferential edge of a contained record 64 (Fig. ll) is trapped when the mouth 62 of the cover is directed downwardly, sothat the record 64 is thus prevented from falling out and has to beremoved by inserting the fingers through the mouth 62 of the sleeve andwithdrawing the record manually therefrom. The strips 630, 63 b arealways in contact with one another irrespective of whether or not arecord is contained in the cover.

A simpler form of album which nevertheless has many of the advantages ofpreceding embodiments consists of a cover of sheet material comprisingfirst and second squares joined to and by a central strip, the firstsquare having integral folded tabs on its three free edges. These tabsare folded over and secured to the edges of a square sheet of polymericmaterial, which preferably has a foam strip secured to either or both ofthe square where the latter are open.

In an alternative and also simple form of construction even the tabs canbe omitted and, instead, the firs square is secured to the free edges ofthe square sheet by welding or glueing. ln another simple form tabs areprovided on the appropriate three sides of the square sheet of polymericmaterial and these are folded under and glued to the underside of thefirst square.

Referring to Fig. 13, two square sheets 50 of polymeric material aredisposed in side-by-side relationship. Above the gap between theiradjacent edges, a strip 51 of foam polymeric material is superposed andoverall is located a rectangular sheet 52 of polymeric material of sucha size as to have its edges above the non-adjacent edges of the squaresheets 50. A combined welding electrode and cutter assembly, shown at53, comprises a rectangular arrangement of outer weld tools 54 eachhaving a lower edge 55 shown in Fig. 14 for compressing the sheets 50and 52 together and an outer dependent cutter blade 56 for trimming thewelded sheets. Disposed centrally of the arrangement is a central weldelement 57 having a dependent central cutter blade 58 for simultaneouslyfusing the center of the sheet 52 to the center of the strip 51. Inoperation, the assembly 53 is lowered on to the pack of sheets andsimultaneously heat seals them together and separates them along thecenter to form a pair of sleeves of polymeric material, such as thoseshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

if theassembly 53is modified as shown in Fig. 15, by providing a centralelement 59 which omits a cutter blade, the resultant tool effectswelding only at the center and produces a double sleeve shown in Fig. 4.If the stack of sheets is operated on inverted as compared with Fig. 14,a cover such as that shown in Fig. 8 is formed or a double sleeve suchas that shown in Fig. 5, depending upon the size of the sheets 50.

The invention provides a large number of significant improvements in thedesign and manufacture of containers, especially in relation to thepackaging, display, sale and safe keeping of gramophone records.

The containers of the invention afford the following advantages:

1. the sleeve is so constructed that it can be very readily incorporatedinto a cover to make a complete record album or like container and, inparticular, is very easily combined with printed and other displaymaterials;

2. the conventional paper or plastics foil inner bag or envelope inwhich gramophone records are housed within most forms of recordcontainer is no longer necessary and can be dispensed with, because thesleeve, especially when made of PVC or the other plastics materialsmentioned is chemically suited to giv ing maximum protection;

3. the one or more foam strips included in the sleeve protect therecords from dust and damage;

4. the transparent nature of the sleeve makes the record per se fullyvisible for display purposes and also assists factory quality control byenabling damaged records in their containers to be seen and removed fromthe production line;

5. because the sleeves are of strong construction, they have anappreciable re-use value.

lclaim:

1. A container for receiving a flat article comprising a cover of sheetmaterial having two portions which are relatively hingeable aboutadjacent edges thereof, a portion of polymeric material disposedadjacent the inner face of one of the two portions of the cover toprovide a first space therebetween having an opening, and a stripsecured along the inner face of the outermost edge of the openingthereby to form a second space at least partly within the first'spacebetween the strip and the sheet to which it is attached whereby a flatarticle can be located in the first space with the edge thereof retainedin the second space so as to be visible through the polymeric material.when the cover is opened out. v

2. A container according to claim 1 wherein said cover comprises arectangle of sheet material having spaced parallel fold lines locatedtherein so as to define the adjacent edges of front and back portionswhich are square in shape.

3. A container according to claim 1 wherein said strip is formed of foammaterial.

4. A container for receiving a flat article comprising a cover formedfrom at least two substantially square portions of sheet material whichare arranged side by side and are relatively hingeable about arespectiveone of their adjacent sides, a sleeve of polymeric material defining afirst space therein and secured on the inside of at least one of theportions of the cover, the sleeve being closed at least at one edgethereof and a strip being secured along at least part of the inner faceof the outermost edge of an opening provided at another edge of thesleeve whereby a second space at least partly within the first space isdefined between the strip and the sleeve, wherein an edge of' a flatarticle can be located in the second space with the article beingretained in the first space.

5. A container according to claim 4 wherein said sleeve is constitutedby at least two sheets secured to one another along adjacent edges, oneedge of said sleeve being open to provide the opening for the insertionand removal of the fiat article.

6. A container according to claim 5 wherein said edges of said sheetsforming said sleeve are offset at the open edge.

7. A container according to claim 4 wherein said sleeve is secured byadhesive to the inner face of one of said portions of said cover.

8. A container according to claim 4 wherein said sleeve is hingedlysecured by an adhesive strip to an edge of one of said portions of saidcover.

9. A container according to claim 4 wherein said opening of said sleeveis located adjacent the hingeable area formed between said portion ofsaid cover.

10. A container according to claim 4 wherein said opening of said sleeveis located adjacent a free edge of said cover.

11. A container according to claim 4 wherein said sleeve has at leastone further sleeve hingedly attached to at least one of its non-openedges.

12. A container according to claim 4 wherein said strip is formed offoam material, which is secured to the sleeve by heat-seal welding.

1. A container for receiving a flat article comprising a cover of sheetmaterial having two portions which are relatively hingeable aboutadjacent edges thereof, a portion of polymeric material disposedadjacent the inner face of one of the two portions of the cover toprovide a first space therebetween having an opening, and a stripsecured along the inner face of the outermost edge of the openingthereby to form a second space at least partly within the first spacebetween the strip and the sheet to which it is attached whereby a flatarticle can be located in the first space with the edge thereof retainedin the second space so as to be visible through the polymeric materialwhen the cover is opened out.
 2. A container according to claim 1wherein said cover comprises a rectangle of sheet material having spacedparallel fold lines located therein so as to define the adjacent edgesof front and back portions which are square in shape.
 3. A containeraccording to claim 1 wherein said strip is formed of foam material.
 4. Acontainer for receiving a flat article comprising a cover formed from atleast two substantially square portions of sheet material which arearranged side by side and are relatively hingeable about a respectiveone of their adjacent sides, a sleeve of polymeric material defining afirst space therein and secured on the inside of at least one of theportions of the cover, the sleeve being closed at least at one edgethereof and a strip being secured along at least part of the inner faceof the outermost edge of an opening provided at another edge of thesleeve whereby a second space at least partly within the first space isdefined between the strip and the sleeve, wherein an edge of a flatarticle can be located in the second space with the article beingretained in the first space.
 5. A container according to claim 4 whereinsaid sleeve is constituted by at least two sheets secured to one anotheralong adjacent edges, one edge of said sleeve being open to provide theopening for the insertion and removal of the flat article.
 6. Acontainer according to claim 5 wherein said edges of said sheets formingsaid sleeve are offset at the open edge.
 7. A container according toclaim 4 wherein said sleeve is secured by adhesive to the inner face ofone of said portions of said cover.
 8. A container according to claim 4wherein said sleeve is hingedly secured by an adhesive strip to an edgeof one of said portions of said cover.
 9. A container according to claim4 wherein said opening of said sleeve is located adjacent the hingeablearea formed between said portion of said cover.
 10. A containeraccording to claim 4 wherein said opening of said sleeve is locatedadjacent a free edge of said cover.
 11. A container according to claim 4wherein said sleeve has at least one further sleeve hingedly attached toat least one of its non-open edges.
 12. A container according to claim 4wherein said strip is formed of foam material, which is secured to thesleeve by heat-seal welding.